Chaps. 27-29 Summary and Analysis

Antony and Cleopatra

pp. 546-574

Cleopatra dominates the play Antony and Cleopatra, with the critic A. C. Bradley calling her an inexhaustible character. The battle between East and West is the focus of the action of the play, with even Antony and Cleopatra's love affair being a political act. Antony first leaves Cleopatra to go back to Rome to marry the Emperor Octavius' sister, but then his lust for power and for Cleopatra bring him back to the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. The focus of the play is power politics, with Antony and Cleopatra appearing together in only a few scenes.

Anthony is the shallower of the two lead characters. He is in decline already at the beginning of the play. The author contends that the audience does not feel that Antony's death is a tragic event, but merely a...